Voting in the Racist Election

One of the downsides to getting internet access again is catching up the news regarding the Australian election on Saturday, 21 August. If 2007 was the first environmental election in the world – as commentators outside the parochial scene of Aussie politics put it – then this one would have to be the racist election, with each side trying to outdo each other on keeping those dreadful boat people out.

It hate to say it, but I was skeptical about the promise that Rudd seemed to give people back in 07. People poo-pooed me, saying Rudd and Labor would make a difference. But now the disillusion is palpable. As I pointed out in Rescuing the Bible, within parliamentary systems like Australia we really have only one mega-party, the pro-capitalist party. It has various wings and factions, who like to call themselves liberal, labour, conservative, national and so forth. But each one argues that it can provide the best conditions for capitalism to flourish. Tomorrow we get to choose between the Labor faction, led by prime minister Julia Gillard, and the curiously named Liberal-National faction, led by Tony Abbott. I’d rather be tarred and feathered than see Abbott win, but it is a long shot for him to do so. Gillard is a shade better, but not by much.

So here’s a tip. Labor under Gillard wins 75 seats in a 150 seat house, Liberal-National 71, country independents (National renegades) 3 and the Greens 1 – the seat of Melbourne which they may well take from Labor. Gillard will have a minority government, requiring the Green MP to get anything through. And the Greens will for the first time be able to propose legislation. Even better, the Greens, polling at times close to 20%, should win the balance of power in the proportionally represented Senate.

No guesses for where my vote is going.

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14 Responses to “Voting in the Racist Election”

Kill me now. This has got to rate as the most reactionary election in some time – there’s not even any attempt to add a “human face” to the blatant pandering to visceral fears. In a way it would be nice to see Labor disintegrate and do some soul searching… but I’m afraid of what they might resurrect as… and even moire afraidd of the idea of Abbott as PM – Australia’s own Berlusconi.

Classic case of a formal choice rather than an absolute one, as Lenin would have it. Makes you realise the problematic truth of one with whom I have become disillusioned, Alain Badiou: parliamentary democracy is the vomit of capitalism.

I’m enjoying watching the teething of the Greens as the Party of Doctors Wives grows into a pwoper bourgeois party.

If I was a middle class liberal decentist with a background of writing harmless opinion pieces for the Fairfax press like Brother Waleed Aly, the Voice of Islam (TM), I might propose that as an issue of Quarterly Essay.

It doesn’t matter who wins since Australia’s economy depends on whether the Stalinist technocrats in the Chinese Community Party can keep their country’s property bubble inflated longer than did the Irish or the Spanish – the Irish of Africa! – or the Californians.

All praise to Brother Aly! But come on, VM, the Greens are also the home to all those wacky left cells of three, who originally split because Abe couldn’t get on with Jim’s ex and Miriam’s half-sister.

Does the Executive know about this? You know that factions are prohibited from the Greens. If the Party doesn’t stamp this shit out in the St Leonards branch soon it’ll have an ALP style factional tussle on its hands.

I haven’t got a clue about Aussie politics much – you two are probably my major source which probably isn’t such a bad thing … I’d vote Green anyway. Illegal immigration – is that ‘the big election issue’? it isn’t new – Aborigines call it blinking convicts, Maori call it Pakeha, American Indians call it I don’t know – white people – the Irish call it the bloody English and the English call it me. However unlike Pakeha, convicts, white people and the bloody English, the boat people aren’t converting you to xtianity, stealing your land and killing you… I’m sorry that BOTH major parties are racist inhuman bigots.

[…] Leave a Comment I made this comment in passing in the discussion over an earlier post on the racist election in Australia, but then the irrepressible Deane Galbraith decided to quote me on his facebook page. […]